Montessori Schools - Education Reform

Montessori Schools - Education Reform

I am not certain exactly how many people are familiar with what I feel is this wonderful school system called the Montessori Schools.

I wonder if the man with his picture at the top of this site may have a particular interest in this post thread, since he has such a quote, "smart,
quirky" ( as described according to her daddy ), little girl in his life, lol.

"Smart, quirky" Alabama may be especially compatible with this school system since, in my opinion, this school system is also a "smart,
quirky" way to experience school as well, lol.

Lol, this groundbreaking and pioneering educational system was created by a fellow Italian like Brian, hehe, so maybe that might encourage him into being
interested in this system even more, lol.

There are estimated to be around 4,000 certified Montessori schools in the U.S, and about 7,000 of them worldwide.

Approximately 200 public schools in the U.S and Canada offer Montessori programs, and this number grows each year.

I am providing a lot of information from the website for The International Montessori Index, an organization which was originally created in 1998
through the graduate school of education of Loyola College in Maryland.

There have been over eight million visits to this site since it opened in 1998. Today there are 350,000 - 500,000 visitors from all over the
world each month.

This site was last updated on June 25, 2008.

There is somewhat of a shortage of really trained and certified Montessori teachers right now, and so a lot of these schools have waiting lists of varied
lengths, which means it can become more important to try and have your child on a waiting list as soon as possible.

Although there are some Montessori programs in free public schools, these usually private Montessori schools are also tuition paid when they are privately
run as well, and so, finances have to be considered when making this educational decision, but, oh, how I wish that every single child on our planet
could have access to this educational system right now.

There is financial aid available for families too.

I know that Brian has stated that educational reform is one of his main concerns, and so, whatever anyone chooses for Alabama's own educational
future, whether she ever attends this type of school or not, I would still guess that Brian might be interested in learning at least a little bit about
this system nonetheless, if he is really that concerned with educational reform.

Please do feel incredibly free to pass these links along to anyone and everyone you feel is interested in this groundbreaking alternative to traditional
education....

This truly, truly, is one of my very most impassioned causes in my life, to see our educational systems be updated and realigned to fully accommodate the
multi levels of children, and multi dimensions of children and young people on this planet in this age....

I feel that I will be supporting and promoting this incredibly important cause of reforming our educational systems around the world from now until I pass
away into the grave....

I worked with pre school children in a school setting back when I was much younger, and I wished now that I had been more formally trained within this
system at that time.

If any or every person or people here truly feel that called to such concern about the weaknesses of the current educational systems of our planet, then
I would definitely suggest that you really take the time to carefully read through this entire post, even if it is long.

I honestly feel that if every child upon our planet were educated in this way, that we would eventually have a much more peaceful existence upon this
planet.

This is a certain portion that is also restated in a further section in this post, but, the words are so positive with possibilities for this system
that I can't help copying these words right into the very beginning of this post right here....

"Today there are research projects of all kinds being carried out on the results of a Montessori education.

As children progress through true (as opposed to those schools who use the name, but have no certified Montessori teachers) Montessori
preschools (3-6), elementary (k-6), middle, and high schools, they become progressively more independent and responsible in action and
thought.

They carry out original research of all kinds and quickly outgrow a teacher's expertise in many areas.

They move out into society and become thoughtful and responsible citizens much earlier than we previously thought possible, arranging
field trips, social and ecological projects and movements, and apprenticeships.

They develop such excellent study habits that they far surpass the level of the curriculum of traditional schools."

Wow, I hope people here really wish to learn more after those promising quotations....

Montessori is not a system for training children in academic studies; nor is it a label to be put on educational materials.

It is a revolutionary method of observing and supporting the natural development of children.

Montessori educational practice helps children develop creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and time-management skills, to
contribute to society and the environment, and to become fulfilled persons in their particular time and place on Earth.

The basis of Montessori practice in the classroom is respected individual choice of research and work, and uninterrupted concentration
rather than group lessons led by an adult.

Group lessons are seldom found in a Montessori classroom, but learning abounds.

As you read through these pages you will discover the unique practices that make Montessori the fastest growing and most successful method
of education today.

The International Montessori Index was originally created in 1998
through the graduate school of education of Loyola College in Maryland.

PURPOSE:

The International Montessori Index brings together a professional group of educators interested in the field of child development,
education in general, and Montessori specifically.

We present information on philosophy, practice, teacher certification, costs, and other facts necessary for making a good decision about placing a child in
a school, or choosing a teacher education course.

There are over 13,000 "Montessori" web sites on the Internet at the time of this writing, and The International Montessori Index is considered by
many the most informative, and is the one most visited, in the USA, and internationally.

Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a
natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.

The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then
refraining from obtrusive interference.

Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master.

Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the
clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society.- Maria Montessori, Education for a New
World

THE WOMAN & HER METHOD

Just who was this woman who began an educational revolution that changed the way we think about children more than anyone before or
since?

Maria Montessori, born in 1870, was the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree.

She worked in the fields of psychiatry, education and anthropology.

She believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, rather than as a "blank
slate" waiting to be written upon.

Her main contributions to the work of those of us raising and educating children are in these
areas:

Preparing the most natural and life-supporting environments for the child

Observing the child living freely in this environment

Continually adapting the environment in order that the child may fulfill his or her greatest potential, physically,
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

THE EARLY YEARS

Maria Montessori was always a little ahead of her time. At age thirteen, against the wishes of her father but
with the support of her mother, she began to attend a boys' technical school.

After seven years of engineering she began pre-med and, in 1896, became a physician.

In her work at the University of Rome psychiatric clinic, Dr. Montessori developed an interest in the
treatment of special needs children and, for several years, she worked, wrote, and spoke on their behalf.

In 1907 she was given the opportunity to study "normal" children, taking charge of fifty poor
children of the dirty, desolate streets of the San Lorenzo slum on the outskirts of Rome.

The news of the unprecedented success of her work in this Casa dei Bambini "House of Children"
soon spread around the world, people coming from far and wide to see the children for themselves.

Dr. Montessori was as astonished as anyone at the realized potential of these children:

Supposing I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, study was unknown, and yet the
inhabitants - doing nothing but living and walking about - came to know all things, to carry in their minds the whole of learning: would you not think I
was romancing?

Well, just this, which seems so fanciful as to be nothing but the invention of a fertile
imagination, is a reality. It is the child's way of learning.

This is the path he follows. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and in doing so
passes little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love.

FROM EUROPE TO THE UNITED STATES

Invited to the USA by Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and others, Dr. Montessori spoke at Carnegie
Hall in 1915.

She was invited to set up a classroom at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, where spectators
watched twenty-one children, all new to this Montessori method, behind a glass wall for four months.

The only two gold medals awarded for education went to this class, and the education of young children was
altered forever.

INDIA AND THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

During World War II, Dr. Montessori was forced into exile from Italy because of her antifascist views and
lived and worked in India.

It was here that she developed her work Education for Peace, and developed many of the ideas taught in her
training courses today.

She was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

THE ELEMENTARY MONTESSORI PROGRAM

In Rome Dr. Montessori developed the Montessori program for the elementary years for the child from
6-12.

She began, as elementary classes do today, with the required curriculum of Italy of her time. She adapted the
traditional teacher-taught subjects in the arts and science so that the children could use materials to guide their open-ended research and to follow their
individual interests, working to a much higher level than was previously (and is presently!) thought possible for children of this age.

The elementary child, when allowed to work independently instead of being taught in groups led by a teacher,
and in classes with a mixed age group of 6-12- year-old students inspiring and teaching each other, masters academic subjects usually not taught until
middle or high school.

THE MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM

Montessori had many ideas for the child at this age. For information on this age level see: Montessori 12-18

THE MONTESSORI ASSISTANTS TO INFANCY PROGRAM

In the 1940's, inspired by the amazing potential of children realized in the early years, Dr. Montessori
stated that age three was too late to begin to support the work and development of children.

In 1947 the Montessori Assistants to Infancy program was begun in Rome.

This was a 3-year, full-time program which is still taught today in several countries. For an overview of
Montessori work at this age, see: Montessori 0-3

TODAY

Since her death an interest in Dr. Montessori's methods have continued to spread throughout the world.
Her message to those who emulated her was always to turn one's attention to the child, to "follow the child".

It is because of this basic tenet, and the observation guidelines left by her, that Dr. Montessori's
ideas will never become obsolete.

Many people, hearing of the high academic level reached by students in this system of education, miss the
point and think that Montessori math manipulative (as an example) is all there is to the Montessori method.

It is easy to acquire materials and to take short courses to learn to use them, but the real value of
Montessori takes long and thorough training for the adult.

The potential of the child is not just mental, but is revealed only when the complete "Montessori
method" is understood and followed.

The child's choice, practical work, care of others and the environment, and above all the high levels of
concentration reached when work is respected and not interrupted, reveal a human being that is superior not only academically, but emotionally and
spiritually, a child who cares deeply about other people and the world, and who works to discover a unique and individual way to
contribute.

After years of expression mainly in pre-schools, Montessori philosophy is finally being used as originally
intended, as a method of seeing children as they really are and of creating environments which foster the fulfillment of their highest potential -
spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual - as members of a family, the world community, and the Cosmos.

Dr. Montessori gave the world a scientific method, practical and tested, for bringing forth the very best in young human
beings. She taught adults how to respect individual differences, and to emphasize social interaction and the education of the whole personality rather
than the teaching of a specific body of knowledge.

Montessori practice is always up-to-date and dynamic because observation and the meeting of needs is continual and
specific for each child.

When physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs are met children glow with excitement and a drive to play and work
with enthusiasm, to learn, and to create. They exhibit a desire to teach, help, and care for others and for their environment.

The high level of academic achievement so common in Montessori schools is a natural outcome of experience in such a
supportive environment.

The Montessori method of education is a model which serves the needs of children of all levels of mental and physical
ability as they live and learn in a natural, mixed-age group which is very much like the society they will live in as adults.

There are Montessori parenting classes, "Nidos" ("nests" for infants), infant communities,
"children's houses" (for age 3-6), and classes for children up to age eighteen in public and private schools.

Montessori works in gifted and talented programs, and for children with developmental disabilities of all kinds. Many
parents are using Dr. Montessori's discoveries to raise/educate their children at home.

The discoveries of Maria Montessori are valuable for anyone living and working with children in any
situation.

The Montessori learning environment is much different than the traditional model.

Instead of information passing from the teacher to the student, the teacher is skilled in putting the child in touch with
the environment, and helping him learn to make intelligent choices and to carry out research in a prepared environment.

The teacher then protects the student's concentration from interruption. This fosters a love of lifetime learning in
the student.

Keep in mind a triangle: the student, the parent or teacher, and the environment.

It is the role of the adult to prepare, and continue to prepare, the environment, to link the child to it through
well-thought-out introductions to books and materials, projects, and lessons, which nurture the child's exploration and creativity.

Children thus taught often surpass both the level of education of their peers, and the knowledge of the adult in all areas
-- then they learn to find answers for themselves.

The Montessori school environment is arranged according to subject area -- cooking, cleaning, gardening, art, caring for
animals, library corner, etc. -- children always free to move around the room instead of staying at desks.

There is no limit to how long a child can work on something she has chosen.

At any one time in a day all subjects -- practical work, math, language, science, history, geography, art, music, etc. --
will be being studied, at all levels, by children of mixed ages learning from each other, facilitated by careful observation, individual lessons, record
keeping, and help of the teacher.

A sparse environment of carefully chosen materials calls the child to work, concentration, and joy. A crowded
or chaotic environment can cause stress and can dissipate a child's energy.

As Montessori education becomes more popular more materials are produced which are labeled "Montessori" and one
must be more and more careful in selection. Too many materials, or inappropriate materials can be worse than too few.

Birth to Age Six: Before the age of six, a child learns from direct contact with the environment, by
means of all the senses, and through movement; the child literally absorbs what is in the environment. The toys and materials in the home and school for
this period of development should be of the very best quality to call forth self-respect, respect and care from the child toward the environment, and the
development of an appreciation of beauty.

Age Six to Twelve:From age six to twelve, "the age of the Imagination," the children produce so much --
charts, models, books, timelines, maps, books, plays, etc. -- that the environment must be continually pared down to the essentials so that the children
continue to create. Sensorial-manipulative materials, such as multiplication bead frames, can also be used for older children, but should be left behind
as soon as the child is ready to work in the abstract.

Age Twelve +: From age twelve to eighteen, the child's education becomes more traditional: books,
computers, and the tools of the place where he may be apprenticing or doing social work. This is transition to adult life during which time the child
learns to function in the real world. The environment now includes the farm, the public library, the work place, the large community.

At all ages, since the adult's special interests usually lie in one or two areas of study, we must be sure to
introduce him to materials and lessons in all areas, all kinds of experiences, and not limit him to our own interests. In the words of the famous music
educator Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, "What does not exist in the cultural environment will not develop in the child."

MONTESSORI AT HOME & HOMESCHOOLING

Many families are using Montessori principles at homes to provide supportive environments for infants, to supplement the
schooling of their children, to make their school studies more vibrant, to teach independence, or sometimes even to completely homeschool their
children.

Often these parents mistakenly think that they need expensive materials which have been produced for many years for
Montessori schools. These materials are made to withstand the constant use of many children over many years and their cost reflects this durability. It is
quite possible to provide a Montessori environment without these materials.

Of course these are valuable tools for education, but we must keep them in balance with other
experiences.

In support of this balance, here is a quote from the July 1997 issue of The Atlantic Monthly: "Sesame Street" .
. . has been around for twenty years. Indeed, its idea of making learning relevant to all was as widely promoted in the seventies as the Internet is
today.

So where's that demographic wave of creative and brilliant students now entering college? Did kids really need to
learn how to watch television? Did we inflate their expectations that learning would always be colorful and fun? . . . . and finally I see a parallel
between the goals of "Sesame Street" and those of children's computing.

Both are pervasive, expensive and encourage children to sit still.

Both display animated cartoons, gaudy numbers and weird, random noises . . . both give the sensation that by merely
watching a screen, you can acquire information without work and without discipline.

Television . . .Is an anti-experience and an anti-knowledge machine because it separates individuals from
themselves and from the environment and makes them believe they are living while they are only observing passively what other people decide to make them
see.- Dr. Silvana Montanaro, MD, Psychiatrist, Montessori Teacher-Trainer

The primary danger of the television screen lies not so much in the behavior it produces as the behavior
it prevents... Turning on the television set can turn off the process that transforms children into adults.- Urie
Bronfenbrenner, Professor of Human Development, Cornell University

Lol, those are rather funny statements in regards to television to read on a website dedicated to a professional actor,
Etc.... lol. Actually, although a strong soap fan since childhood myself, I also agree that TOO MUCH television viewing definitely
hinders development in BOTH children AND adults too.

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. - Socrates

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. - Einstein

SOME SPECIFIC DETAILS OF THE MONTESSORI METHOD

The schedule - "The Three-hour Work Period

In the three-six class there is one (sometimes two if it is a full-day schedule) 3-hour, uninterrupted, work period
each day not interrupted by group activity.

The "3-hour Work Period" is vital to the success of Montessori education and often misunderstood. It means
that children have three hours to choose and carry out their own work.

It does NOT include any required outside play, group story time "circle time," music, or any other
activities which take time away from the child's own choice of activity.

During this time adults and children alike respect a child's concentration and do not interrupt one who is busy at
a task.

All of the traditional group activities spontaneously arise according to the interest of the child or a group of
children during the day, or are occasionally called by the teacher if necessary.

Note: For more information on the "three-hour work period" see the chapter "My Contribution to
Experimental Science" from The Advanced Montessori Method, Volume I, by Dr. Maria Montessori, or contact the Michael Olaf Montessori
Company at michaelolaf@aol.com for reprint GB850

Multiage grouping

Children are grouped in mixed ages and abilities in three to six year spans: 0-3, 3-6, 6-12 (sometimes temporarily,
but not ideally, 6-9 and 9-12), 12-15, 15-18.

There is constant interaction, problem solving, child to child teaching, and socialization.

Children are challenged according to their ability and never bored.

The Montessori middle and high school teacher ideally has taken all three training courses plus graduate work in an
academic area or areas.

Work centers

The environment is arranged according to subject area, and children are always free to move around the room instead of
staying at desks. There is no limit to how long a child can work with a piece of material.

At any one time in a day all subjects -- math, language, science, history, geography, art, music, etc., will be being
studied, at all levels.

Teaching method- "Teach by teaching, not by correcting"

There are no papers turned back with red marks and corrections.

Instead the child's effort and work is respected as it is.

The teacher, through extensive observation and record-keeping, plans individual projects to enable each child to learn
what he needs in order to improve.

Teaching Ratio - 1:1 and 1:30+

Except for infant/toddler groups (Ratio dictated by local social service regulations), the teaching ratio is one
trained Montessori teacher and one non-teaching aide to 30+ children.

Rather than lecturing to large or small groups of children, the teacher is trained to teach one child at a time, and
to oversee thirty or more children working on a broad array of tasks.

She is facile in the basic lessons of math, language, the arts and sciences, and in guiding a child's research and
exploration, capitalizing on his interest in and excitement about a subject.

The teacher does not make assignments or dictate what to study or read, nor does she set a limit as to how far a child
follows an interest.

Basic lessons

The Montessori teacher spends a lot of time during teacher training practicing the many lessons with materials in all
areas. She must pass a written and oral exam on these lessons in order to be certified.

She is trained to recognize a child's readiness according to age, ability, and interest in a specific lesson, and
is prepared to guide individual progress.

Areas of study

All subjects are interwoven, not taught in isolation, the teacher modeling a "Renaissance" person of broad
interests for the children. A child can work on any material he understands at any time.

Class size

Except for infant/toddler groups, the most successful classes are of 30-35 children to one teacher (who is very well
trained for the level she is teaching), with one non-teaching assistant.

This is possible because the children stay in the same group for three to six years and much of the teaching comes
from the children and the environment.

Learning styles

All kinds of intelligences and styles of learning are nurtured: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, intuitive, and the traditional linguistic and logical-mathematical (reading, writing, and math).

This particular model is backed up by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple
intelligences.

Assessment

There are no grades, or other forms of reward or punishment, subtle or overt. Assessment is by portfolio and the
teacher's observation and record keeping.

The test of whether or not the system is working lies in the accomplishment and behavior of the children, their
happiness, maturity, kindness, and love of learning, and level of work.

Requirements for age 0-6

There are no academic requirements for this age, but children are exposed to amazing amounts of knowledge and often
learn to read, write and calculate beyond what is usually thought interesting to a child of this age.

Requirements for ages 6-18

The teacher remains alert to the interests of each child and facilitates individual research in following interests.
There are no curriculum requirements except those set by the state, or college entrance requirements, for specific grade levels. These take a minimum
amount of time.

From age six on, students design contracts with the teacher to guide their required work, to balance their general
work, and to teach them to become responsible for their own time management and education. The work of the 6+ class includes subjects usually not
introduced until high school or college.

Character education:

Education of character is considered equally with academic education, children learning to take care of themselves,
their environment, each other - cooking, cleaning, building, gardening, moving gracefully, speaking politely, being considerate and helpful, doing
social work in the community, etc.

THE OUTCOME OF THE METHOD

When the environment meets all of the needs of children they become, without any manipulation by the adult, physically
healthy, mentally and psychologically fulfilled, extremely well-educated, and brimming over with joy and kindness toward each other.

In the following quote, Dr. Montessori, speaks of the first Casa dei Bambini (Children's House) in Rome,
illustrating the important discovery, and the core of all Montessori work today:

When the children had completed an absorbing bit of work, they appeared rested and deeply pleased. It almost seemed as
if a road had opened up within their souls that led to all their latent powers, revealing the better part of themselves. They exhibited a great affability
to everyone, put themselves out to help others, and seemed full of good will.

Today there are research projects of all kinds being carried out on the results of a Montessori
education.

As children progress through true (as opposed to those schools who use the name, but have no certified Montessori
teachers) Montessori preschools (3-6), elementary (k-6), middle, and high schools, they become progressively more independent and responsible in action and
thought.

They carry out original research of all kinds and quickly outgrow a teacher's expertise in many
areas.

They move out into society and become thoughtful and responsible citizens much earlier than we previously thought
possible, arranging field trips, social and ecological projects and movements, and apprenticeships.

They develop such excellent study habits that they far surpass the level of the curriculum of traditional
schools.

MONTESSORI TEACHERS

The adult in charge of these environments requires unique preparation.

The traditional Montessori training is a full year of graduate work for each of the following three age levels, and stages of
development, of children: Birth to three years, Three years to six years, Six years to twelve years.

The Montessori middle and high school teacher ideally has taken all three training courses plus graduate work in an academic area or
areas.

Out of a spirit of enthusiasm for following Dr. Montessori's ideas there is a wide variety of teacher preparation.

Some have taken intensive, yearlong graduate courses, studying under experienced master teachers who have themselves undergone an
exacting teacher-training certification program of several years duration. These Montessori teacher-trainees have earned their certification by passing
rigorous practical, written, and oral exams.

Others have simply read one of Dr. Montessori's books and applied some of her ideas in a daycare environment.

Between these two extremes there are many other examples and no official check on the use of the word "Montessori."

Due to the wide variation of the preparation of adult there is a corresponding variety in the success and quality of schools.

We know that allowing for the work of the inner guide is the hardest part of working in the classroom. It is easy to emphasize our
own agenda; to weigh the academics disproportionately, to push for the quick solution, to substitute our will for the child's. It is so difficult to
keep from over-directing, to observe without judgment, to wait for the child to reveal herself. Yet, over and over again, when we do honor that inner
guide, the personality unfolds in a way that surprises - that goes beyond what we could direct or predict.

- Dr. Sharon Dubble, Ph.D., Professor, Loyola College in Maryland

Montessori education has worked all over the world, with all kinds of children (wealthy, poor, gifted, normal, learning disabled, blind,
etc.) and environments (from refugee camps and slums, to elegant schools in beautiful private homes).

It is not the richness of the environment that determines the success of the Montessori method, but the preparation of the
teacher.

Dr. Montessori learned early in her work that the education of teachers who are able to kindle flames rather than just fill vessels is
not so easy. The Montessori method is philosophically and practically different from other educational methods, and also very different from the personal
educational experience of most adults who become Montessori teachers.

The words "directress" or "guide" is sometimes used rather than "teacher" because of the different role of
the adult in relating to the child - directing him to find the best way to learn from the environment rather than from the adult.

Good Montessori teachers come from varied backgrounds, from artists to scientists, mountain climbers and dancers, to grandmothers! What
qualities are needed to become a Montessori Directress/Director?

A commitment to the full development of the child -- to helping the child's personality unfold. Someone who
therefore seeks tirelessly to gain the interest of each child -- ready to enthuse him but also able to stand back and take a supporting role when the child
has become engaged in his own work. Also patience, a sense of humor, and a wide variety of interests which will help to bring perspective to their work and
enhance the children's lives.

There have never been enough well-trained Montessori teachers available to meet
the worldwide demand.
To learn more about Montessori employment opportunities, check the following Member employment pages:

A.Montessori (pronounced MON-tuh-SORE-ee) education was founded in 1907 by Dr. Maria Montessori, the first woman in Italy to become a
physician. She based her educational methods on scientific observation of children's learning processes.

Guided by her discovery that children teach themselves, Dr. Montessori designed a "prepared environment" in which children could
freely choose from a number of developmentally appropriate activities.

Now, nearly a century after Maria Montessori's first casa dei bambini ("children's house") in Rome, Montessori education
is found all over the world, spanning ages from birth to adolescence.

Q. What is the difference between Montessori and traditional education?

A. Montessori emphasizes learning through all five senses, not just through listening, watching, or reading.

Children in Montessori classes learn at their own, individual pace and according to their own choice of activities from hundreds of
possibilities.

Learning is an exciting process of discovery, leading to concentration, motivation, self-discipline, and a love of learning.

Montessori classes place children in three-year age groups (3-6, 6-9, 9-12, and so on), forming communities in which the older children
spontaneously share their knowledge with the younger ones.

Montessori represents an entirely different approach to education.

Q. Can I do Montessori at home with my child?

A. Yes, you can use Montessori principles of child development at home. Look at your home through your child's eyes. Children need a
sense of belonging, and they get it by participating fully in the routines of everyday life. "Help me do it by myself" is the life theme of the
preschooler.

Can you find ways for your child to participate in meal preparation, cleaning, gardening, caring for clothes, shoes, and toys? Providing
opportunities for independence is the surest way to build your child's self-esteem.

At the school level many homeschooling and other parents use the Montessori philosophy of following the child's interest and not
interrupting concentration to educate their children.

In school only a trained Montessori teacher can properly implement Montessori education, using the specialized learning
equipment of the Montessori "prepared environment." Here social development comes from being in a positive and unique environment with other
children -- an integral part of Montessori education.

Montessori Children

Q. Is Montessori good for children with learning disabilities?

What about gifted children?

A. Montessori is designed to help all children reach their fullest potential at their own unique pace. A classroom whose children have
varying abilities is a community in which everyone learns from one another and everyone contributes. Moreover, multiage grouping allows each child to find
his or her own pace without feeling "ahead" or "behind" in relation to peers.

Q. What ages does Montessori serve?

A. There are more Montessori programs for ages 3-6 than for any other age group, but Montessori is not limited to early childhood.

Many infant/toddler programs (ages 2 months to 3 years) exist, as well as elementary (ages 6-12), adolescent (ages 12-15) and even a few
Montessori high schools.

Q. Are Montessori children successful later in life?

A. Research studies show that Montessori children are well prepared for later life academically, socially, and emotionally.

In addition to scoring well on standardized tests, Montessori children are ranked above average on such criteria as following directions,
turning in work on time, listening attentively, using basic skills, showing responsibility, asking provocative questions, showing enthusiasm for learning,
and adapting to new situations.

MONTESSORI SCHOOLS

Q. I recently observed a Montessori classroom for a day. I was very, very impressed, but I have three questions.

1. There doesn't seem to be any opportunities for pretend play.

2. The materials don't seem to allow children to be creative.

3. Children don't seem to be interacting with each other very much.

A. (1) When Dr. Montessori opened the first Children's House it was full of pretend play things. The children never
played with them as long as they were allowed to do real things - i.e. cooking instead of pretending to cook. It is still true.

(2) the materials teach specific things and then the creativity is incredible. Like learning how to handle a good violin and then playing
music. It is not considered "creative" to use a violin as a hammer, or a bridge while playing with blocks. We consider it "creative" to
learn how to use the violin properly and then create music. The same goes for the materials in a Montessori classroom.

(3) there is as much interaction as the children desire, but the tasks are so satisfying that, for these few hours a day, children want
to master the challenges offered by them. Then they become happier and kinder-true socialization. Also, since concentration is protected above all, as all
"work" is respected, children learn early on not to interrupt someone who is concentrating.

Q. How do I find Montessori schools in my area?

A. There are thousands of Montessori schools in the world, and three " list links at this site: www.montessori.edu/refs.html. If this doesn't help you, look in your phone book, get the literature of local
schools, observe, and compare what you learn with what you read on this site.

Q. Who accredits or oversees Montessori schools?

A. Unfortunately, there is no way to limit the use of the name "Montessori." Parents must carefully research, and observe a
classroom in operation, in order to choose a real Montessori school for their child.

There are several Montessori organizations to which schools can belong.

The two major ones operating in the United States are the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI, with a U.S. branch office called
AMI-USA) and the American Montessori Society (AMS).

Parents considering placing a child in a Montessori school should ask about the school's affiliation(s).

Q. How much does Montessori cost?

A. (from NAMTA figures, 1998)

Because all Montessori schools are operated independently of one another, tuitions vary widely. According to a 1996 NAMTA survey of U.S.
and Canadian Montessori schools, tuitions range from a low of under $999 per year to a high of over $11,000 per year.

Median annual tuition by age level was as follows: (NOTE: these figures are several years old and may not apply)

Infant/toddler: $3,480 +

Ages 3-6, 3-hour day: $2,550 +

Ages 3-6, 4-hour day: $3,300 +

Ages 3-6, 6-hour day: $4,300 +

Ages 6-9: $4,600 +

Ages 9-12: $4,740 +

Ages 12-15: $5,440 +

Also keep in mind that there are many Montessori programs in public schools, which charge no tuition at all to students within their
district.

Q. What is the best way to choose a Montessori school for my child?

A. Ask if the school is affiliated with any Montessori organization. Ask what kind of training the teachers have.

Visit the school, observe the classroom in action, and later ask the teacher or principal to explain the theory behind the activities you saw.

Most of all, talk to your child's prospective teacher about his or her philosophy of child development and education to see if it is compatible
with your own.

Q. How many Montessori schools are there?

A. We estimate that there are at least 4,000 certified Montessori schools in the United States and about 7,000 worldwide.

Q. Are Montessori schools religious?

A. Some are, but most are not. Some Montessori schools, just like other schools, operate under the auspices of a church, synagogue, or diocese, but
most are independent of any religious affiliation.

Q. Are all Montessori schools private?

A. No. Approximately 200 public schools in the U.S. and Canada offer Montessori programs, and this number is growing every year.

Q. What does it take to start a Montessori school?

A. The essential element of any Montessori school is the fully-trained Montessori teacher. A good starting point is a group of parents who want
Montessori for their children.

The next step is to look into state and local requirements for schools, such as teacher training, facilities, class size, etc.

Selecting a site and making sure it meets applicable building codes is also an early part of the process.

Montessori materials and furniture must be purchased, and, unless one of the founders has taken Montessori training, a teacher must be hired.

Montessori Teachers

Q. What special training do Montessori teachers have?

A. As with the choice of a Montessori school for children, an adult must also exercise wisdom in choosing a
teacher training course. Anyone can legally use the name "Montessori" in describing their teacher training organization. One must be
sure the certification earned is recognized by the school where one desires to teach.

The two major organizations offering Montessori training in the United States are the Association Montessori Internationale
(AMI, with a U.S. branch office called AMI-USA) and the American Montessori Society (AMS).

Most training centers require a bachelor's degree for admission.

Training ranges from 200 to 600 pre-service contact hours and covers principles of child development and Montessori
philosophy as well as specific uses of the Montessori classroom materials.

Montessori training centers can be found across North America and around the world.

There are other courses which can help one better understand Montessori theory or which can train adults to work in certain
schools.

It is important to balance the amount of time and money one can spend with the teaching opportunities desired.

Much of this information comes from The Michael Olaf Montessori Company. They publish two catalogues that are also excellent
overviews of Montessori philosophy and practice.

Anyone who is interested in finding or starting a Montessori school should be aware of the fact that the word Montessori, is
not patented and anyone can use it. Thus, the use of the word Montessori is no assurance of quality.

If you want to enroll your child in a Montessori school it is important that you learn what a Montessori school should be like, and
then observe children working in the school you are considering.

In a good school there will be:

A certified Montessori-trained adult, the teacher and preferably also the administrator. The teacher or
directress/director will not be giving traditional group lessons, but will be implementing the progress of each child through individual
lessons and record keeping.

2. A full range of tested and proven Montessori materials... elegant, uncluttered environment.

NOTE: The picture on this page was taken in a school in East Africa. All of the materials were scrounged and parent-made, under
the direction of a well-educated Montessori teacher.

3. Happy, kind children, busy on self-chosen, uninterrupted work.

There are many different kinds of Montessori teacher certification courses in the world today. Some schools are
certified by a particular organization and only have teachers with that certification.

Some schools have been known to call themselves Montessori schools even though they have no certified
teachers. Parents must look carefully into this question.

Montessori schools are found in tiny church halls, large public school buildings, even homes. The physical
environment is secondary to the natural ability, and the training of the adults.

There is a great need for certified Montessori teachers. Because of this shortage many Montessori schools have long
waiting lists. Choose carefully; your child will be entering a second family.

Preparation at Home - Assistants to Infancy: There is much parents can do at home in the early year to prepare the
young child for a balanced life. For information on implementing Montessori philosophy at home, from birth to three, go to: http://www.montessori.edu/AtoI.html Montessori Assistants to Infancy Courses, or www.michaelolaf.net.

SPECIFIC SCHOOL SEARCHES

Although we can give you some pointers for finding a good Montessori school for your child, we are not a substitute
for the research you can do in your own community.

First you could check with the following resources. If this doesn't help you, learn all you can about what a
Montessori class should be like, check in your local telephone book and phone the schools. Have their literature sent and make an
appointment for an observation of a class during a normal day with the children there.

Do not select a school solely upon someone else's recommendation, but only after you visit. You may have to apply
when your child is very young, as many good schools have waiting lists.

PLEASE READ FOR MORE SPECIFIC INFORMATION ABOUT MONTESSORI, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE CONFUSED ABOUT IT'S PREMISES THAT ARE SO
DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS....

This Link is a 22 page long Link which answers MANY, MANY important questions about the outcomes of a Montessori education, and
about whether a child will be able to adjust to a more traditional educational environment after their Montessori years are done,
Etc....

IT ALSO DESCRIBES THE WAYS THAT MONTESSORI LEADS TO SOCIAL CHANGES....

Written at the request of the organizers of the California Home Education Conference, for homeschoolers interested in using
Montessori philosophy and practice at home.

Michael attended a Montessori school from age 2.5-5, and one semester at a Montessori elementary class.
From then on, at his choice, he was homeschooled.

His educational materials consisted, for the most part, of products from the family Michael Olaf
Montessori company which he reviewed for the catalogue, weekly visits to the library to research the interest of the
moment, daily music practice, and exploration in nature. There was no TV in the home.

He was allowed unlimited time whenever possible-days, nights, weekends-to explore and choose his own
path.

Many experiences and study directions were offered by his parents, and periodically by other mentors and
teachers, but his choices and his passions were always respected.

The parents both worked full time (mother in her home office) and spent very little time
"educating" Michael.

During the elementary years, they helped him make weekly work/study plans which included roughly grade
level math and English suggestions, but was otherwise made up of his own choices in many areas such as music, literature,
mythology, history, astronomy and the arts.

There was no TV, and no video or computer games in the home as distractions and time wasters. He loved
exploring and learning, and having his own interests respected.

Over the years Michael studied Suzuki piano and violin and attended the local music academy at Humboldt
State University for several hours every Saturday.

For some years he attended a "homeschooling school" for one or two days a week. This provided
sports, group activities, and a very interesting social life often found in homeschooling communities.

His best friends were not just those people of his own age, but his young students, friends of his older
sisters and parents, people of all ages.

At age fifteen Michael passed the CHSPE (California High School Proficiency Exam) and received an official
high school certificate.

Then he was allowed to take classes at Humboldt State University. Looking always for the best teachers,
rather than specific subjects, he earned 35 units at HSU, in drama, math, physics, and music.

During the summer of his fifteenth year Michael went to the Calgary Conservatory in Canada and became a
certified Suzuki piano teacher and began teaching - both adults and children.

For one year Michael attended a new local academic and arts high school but found that this traditional
method of education broke up academic subjects into choppy, boring segments which he found frustrating, and interfered with
his own research and reading, music and academic progress. Although a wonderful school it was based on competition and an
adult directed curriculum which is not necessary for a self-directed motivated student.

The following year, having returned to "homeschooling" he taught a jazz ensemble for this
school.

TESTS: Michael was not "educated for tests", nor did he take any tests during his school years
except in classes at Humboldt State University, and a California assessment test at the end of 6th grade. Instead he learned
to enjoy learning and to work hard and do his best.

When it came time to apply for college he took practice ACT and SAT tests, scoring very low, and then
worked steadily for 2-3 months to learn what was needed to raise his scores to a consistently high level.

He was admitted to Brown University. His sophomore year at Brown he was a TA for the music department, a
role previously held only by music graduate students.

For years Michael earned his own money teaching music and playing with professional groups, and learned to
budget it for tithe, savings, and food, clothing and other necessities.

He has toured or traveled in the Northwest USA, Cuba, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

He graduated in three years from Brown University, interned for an environmental NGO in India, and now is
studying law at the University of Oregon where he works as a tutor for first year students.

We believe that education should be cooperative instead of competitive. It should feed curiosity and create
joy and compassion toward others.

It works best when a child feels the intrinsic rewards of mastering subject matter, overcoming obstacles,
and finding his own answers to questions rather than the extrinsic rewards of praise, grades, or threats of
failure.

It should teach practical and social skills such as helping others, and teach one how to balance work and
play and be healthy.

If we can help children develop these goals we are giving them experiences that can lead to a productive
and happy life.

Over the last fifteen years we have learned a lot by homeschooling, and from other homeschooling families
and from Montessori teachers and parents.

The Michael Olaf Montessori catalogues have been constantly rewritten to reflect this learning and they
are considered to be excellent overviews of Montessori philosophy and practice for use in many situations, and a source of
materials for homes and schools, for children from birth through age 12 and beyond.

We constantly questioned ourselves as parents "Are we doing the right thing?" "Are we
ruining our child's life" as there really is no recipe for how to homeschool successfully.

In the end we followed our gut feelings, we observed our only family and experience, and other
homeschoolers carefully, and "followed the child."

Jim & Susan Stephenson
2007

Ok, well, I just cannot describe how deeply imperative I really feel it is to begin to manifest more efforts to reform and
redeem our educational system.

And I guess I need to realize that it is not likely that every child will have fast access to what appears to be such a
somewhat different way of learning right away in our current time, but I feel that the sooner that we can get started on
understanding children's true potential for learning, the sooner we can make new teaching methods available to as many
students as possible from here on out.

As was stated in this post, there are thousands of Montessori websites on the internet, and so of course, I have only
presented you with the tip of the iceberg as to research about these methods, but I hope that people will pursue this
information as well as they possibly can do.

PLEASE, PLEASE, if you feel so inclined to do so, PLEASE do indeed pass these Links along to as many people as you
possibly can.

Again, this issue is one of my most pertinent in my whole life, and I would advise anyone that claims to be concerned with educational reform, or that
knows of anyone that has a passion for education reform to PLEASE pass these Links along to ANYONE they feel is deeply concerned about these reforms.

This post concerns a woman with a background in Montessori that is also a professor of psychology at The University of Virginia, who conducted a great study
a couple years ago, that highlighted the differences between Montessori students and the more traditional students.

First, there is an interview with this Professor, Angeline Lillard, where she discusses her Book called Montessori : The Science Behind The Genius, and
where she describes how important these schooling methods could be to aiding children of lower class backgrounds that don't always tend to get as many
educational benefits from our public schools as more middle class and upper class income students receive from these same public schools.

She also talks about helping children that have learning difficulties due to ADHD to become more educated within these environments too.

In my opinion, she is SO right and correct about the current somewhat selfish qualities of some parents in this day and age, ( those are NOT the words
SHE uses to describe today's parents here, they are MY own words for the qualities I see in too many parents these days ), where she discusses the
simple-mindedness ( MY words, NOT hers ) of too many parents that look at educational reforms as not being as important as they could be because
quote, "what we had ( the traditional systems ) were good enough for us, so they are good enough for our children."

I say that the older generations are intended to blaze the trails of improvement for their children, not keep what is warped and dysfunctional in place.

Sadly, some parents appear to be rather self-centered nowadays. My mother said to me awhile back that a friend of hers told her that quote, "Too
many parents don't have time to parent these days. They are too wrapped up in other things."

I am not positive what exactly that phrase of, "other things," referred to there, if this person meant that parents are too consumed by their
occupational lives, or if they are too taken up with their other matters like romance, or hobbies, or friends in their lives, or whatever, but whatever
this person meant to state by "other things," I just say, "How Sad."

How really sad. Once you have children, I say that your children ARE your first priority in life. Period.

So, anyways, I concur with this professor's assessment in this interview that there are too many parents that just fall asleep at the switch where
these reforms are concerned, in that they make excuses about how, "it was good enough for us, so it is good enough for our children,"
instead of these parents taking any substantial interest in real radical reform.

All of the following Articles after the first interview with Angeline about her research study are different Press Articles by different Press Outlets
that came out of her initial research experiment. I feel that these various Articles each have some different points of view on this same
experiment, which makes ALL of them rather interesting to read.

One of the most exciting things to me about the Montessori approach to education and to life, is the fact of how much more socially skilled these
Montessori children are in their lives, as opposed to children in other school systems.

Too many children are SO ignorantly dysfunctional and lacking in various conflict resolutions, with an attitude of, "I'll just kick your
butt, or I'll just hit you, if you get in my way, or if you get in my face."

They are woefully deficient in interpersonal skills, and they are on a course to becoming dysfunctional adults that solve problems
with fists, not with FACTS.

I was a child care provider for a couple of school age boys back in the 1990's, and I struggled, oh how I struggled, to try and overcome these
destructive social influences ( music, movies, video games, Etc... ) within the media that told children to solve their problems with their
punches, and not with their BRAINS.

I wish I had a quarter for all of the lectures I gave them about intelligent conflict resolution back then, lol.

The older child in particular would have been blessed with more success from an alternative school system such as this one, I know.

We didn't live in the inner city either, but our small town school was NOT up to standards at providing an adequate environment for all
different types of students learning styles, nor was it adequate in providing the proper social environment in terms of conflict resolution, Etc....
either.

Anyhow....

Finally, after this interview with Angeline, and the following Articles about her experiment, there is some information about Angeline's
Book, ( $28 on Amazon ), which can be purchased Online, and some information about a DVD of her Lecture, also to be purchased Online, along
with Links to the Preface of her Book below, and Links to ALL, I repeat, ALL, of Chapter 1 of her Book below....as well as some Links to Two of
Angeline's Radio / Podcast Interviews, and One Radio Interview that she did with two other people.

When you read the Book Reviews from Amazon below, you will read that this Book is recommended for ANYONE interested in education reform, (
Montessori education reform OR not ), whether you are a parent, teacher, educator, or other person, Etc....

I mean, Angeline's Book is recommended for ANYONE "interested in children" in the general sense of that phrase, which usually
means somebody that is interested in children's education, of course, because education is such an important aspect of childhood and
adolescence.

Also, in some of these Articles below, there is more information about the yearly tuition and costs of Montessori, and it IS expensive, BUT,
there ARE Financial Aid Programs available at a lot of schools, I believe. Some of the higher fees for this education system may make people
do a double take, lol, as they probably seem rather expensive to people that are used to sending their children to school for free until they are
college age.

These higher costs are the reasons why I feel it is SO important to try and insert these programs into more and more public school systems
too.

Finally, I LOVE those two Montessori students, one of them that claims that they want to be a journalist, and the other one that claims they
want to give health care to people without health insurance, in one of the Articles below. Apparently, lots of Montessori students tend to
choose professions that help and aid people, Etc....

They may be efficient, but traditional teaching methods also may not be the most effective. A psychologist looks at the Montessori method.

By Linda Kobert

Posted October 2005

Angeline Lillard is the offspring of the Montessori movement. She comes from a long line of teachers, and in the 1960s when the innovative
educational ideas of Italian physician Maria Montessori first made their way to the United States, her mother was among those who embraced
them.

Lillard and her sisters attended Montessori preschool. Her mother and two sisters are Montessori teachers, and both of her own daughters
attended a Montessori program through the elementary grades.

"The whole time growing up when I would play school with my younger sister, we would always play Montessori school," says Lillard, a
developmental psychologist who is an associate professor of psychology at U.Va.

In fact, it was a Montessori teacher training course she took many years ago that both inspired Lillard to return to graduate school and
helped shape the research she does today.

She describes her explorations of these unconventional educational ideas in her new book, "Montessori: The Science Behind the
Genius."

Lillard took on this project because, although she had been steeped in Montessori principles from a young age, she wasn't sure she
believed everything she was told.

"People seemed so blindly devotional," she says. "I couldn't tell what were the ideas of Montessori and what was based on
evidence. I was quite sure that, although Montessori had its strengths, other school systems did too, and we should try to put together the best
of everything."

In seeking a more scientific exploration of the basic principles of the Montessori method, Lillard simply wanted to sort out fact from faith.

Her book, however, turned out to be more of an indictment of traditional education than an uncritical collection of the best of different schools
of thought.

When Lillard started looking at the evidence, she discovered a strong body of literature that indicated Maria Montessori was right.

"Modern research in psychology suggests the Montessori system is much more suited to how children learn and develop than the traditional
system is," Lillard writes in her book, which was published in March by Oxford University Press and now is in its fourth printing.

Structure

The problem with modern schools, Lillard maintains, is their fundamental structure. Traditional educational systems, she says, apply a factory
model to the systematic production of an educated populace.

Students in traditional schools are viewed through a behaviorist lens as empty vessels that respond to stimuli and are subject to rewards and
punishments meted out by the teacher.

Although efficient in managerial terms, "these models create a host of impediments to children's learning," Lillard says. This
approach is why, she adds, children prefer snow days to school days and why those who enter the teaching profession stay only an average of three
years.

Lillard's book looks at eight of Montessori's basic principles about how children learn.

Montessori teachers, for example, step back and let students make their own decisions about what direction their learning will take.

They encourage kids to work together with peers and to focus deeply on subject matter that interests them.

Rather than working for the rewards of grades or praise, children in a Montessori school are motivated by the intrinsic rewards of their own
achievement.

The achievement gap

Although there is much research still to be done, Lillard found no evidence to refute any of the mainstays of the Montessori method. On the
contrary, she found lots of evidence to support the value of Montessori techniques in dealing with modern educational challenges.

Take the achievement gap, for example. Lillard cites work by U.Va. psychology colleague Eric Turkheimer and others who demonstrate that for
children in families at lower socioeconomic levels the educational environment makes a significantly greater difference in achievement than it
does for children of middle- and upper-income families.

"There are lots of factors that can be in play there," Lillard explains, "but in low-income areas where there are good
Montessori programs, we do see progress being made."

Finding out whether Montessori makes a difference with economically disadvantaged children can be a challenge, though, because a Montessori
education is usually only available at private schools.

Milwaukee Public Schools, however, support several charter programs that offer Montessori for children of all socioeconomic levels.

At these schools, the rate of passing standardized tests is 20 percent higher than the average rate of the Milwaukee public elementary
schools.

Lillard also sees anecdotal evidence to support Montessori practices as a response to children who have learning challenges as a result of
Attention Deficit/Hyper-activity Disorder (ADHD).

Children who were diagnosed with ADHD in other schools, she finds, are better able to engage in the focused attention that comes from
student-driven learning in a Montessori school.

Having come full circle in her inquiry, Lillard sees much resistance to any reform that challenges the current system.

Studies show that middle- and upper-income students, for whom families usually provide strong support, can manage well enough in
traditional schools.

"I think that's part of why school change is resisted," Lillard says. "People are happy enough. We have all these
negative feelings about school, but there's also the sense [from parents] that, 'I went there, and it was good enough for me.'
I think that works against radical change."

Still, Lillard sees hope for closing the achievement gap not only in Montessori but in other alternatives to the behaviorist model, such as
schools following theories of John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Rudolf Steiner.

"I think if we can help the children who are at the lower [socioeconomic] ends be more inspired and interested in school by setting up
educational systems that are more in line with how we know children learn, then there is some hope of closing in this gap. There are many
examples of preschool programs that help children in lower socioeconomic brackets. So clearly there's hope if we put the money in the right
places."

Linda Kobert is a freelance writer and poet living in Charlottesville, VA

September 28, 2006-A study comparing outcomes of children at a public inner-city Montessori school
with children who attended traditional schools indicates that Montessori education leads to children with better social and academic
skills.

Montessori education is characterized by multi-age classrooms, a special set of educational materials, student-chosen work in long time
blocks, a collaborative environment with student mentors, absence of grades and tests, and individual and small group instruction in academic
and social skills.

More than 5,000 schools in the United States, including 300 public schools, use the Montessori method.

The Montessori school studied is located in Milwaukee and serves urban minority children.

Students at the school were selected for enrollment through a random lottery process. Those students who "won" the lottery and
enrolled at the Montessori school made up the study group.

A control group was made up of children who had "lost" the lottery and were therefore enrolled in other schools using traditional
methods.

In both cases the parents had entered their children in the school lottery with the hope of gaining enrollment in the Montessori school.

"This strategy addressed the concern that parents who seek to enroll their children in a Montessori school are different from parents
who do not," wrote study authors Angeline Lillard, a University of Virginia professor of psychology, and Nicole Else-Quest, a former
graduate student in psychology at the University of Wisconsin.

This was an important factor because parents generally are the dominant influence on child outcomes.

Children were evaluated at the end of the two most widely implemented levels of Montessori education: primary (3- to 6-year-olds) and
elementary (6- to 12-year-olds).

They came from families of very similar income levels (averaging from $20,000 to $50,000 per year for both groups).

The children who attended the Montessori school, and the children who did not, were tested for their cognitive and academic skills, and for
their social and behavioral skills.

"We found significant advantages for the Montessori students in these tests for both age groups," Lillard said. "Particularly
remarkable are the positive social effects of Montessori education. Typically the home environment overwhelms all other influences in that
area."

Among the 5-year-olds, Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than
the non-Montessori children.

They also tested better on "executive function," the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of
future school and life success.

Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioral tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and
fairness.

And on the playground they were much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough
play.

Among the 12-year-olds from both groups, the Montessori children, in cognitive and academic measures, produced essays that were rated as
"significantly more creative and as using significantly more sophisticated sentence structures."

The Montessori and non-Montessori students scored similarly on spelling, punctuation and grammar, and there was not much difference in
academic skills related to reading and math.

This parity occurred despite the Montessori children not being regularly tested and graded.

In social and behavioral measures, 12-year-old Montessori students were more likely to choose "positive assertive responses" for
dealing with unpleasant social situations, such as having someone cut into a line.

They also indicated a "greater sense of community" at their school and felt that students there respected, helped and cared about
each other.

The authors concluded that, "…when strictly implemented, Montessori education fosters social and academic skills that are equal or
superior to those fostered by a pool of other types of schools."

Lillard plans to continue the research by tracking the students from both groups over a longer period of time to determine long-term effects
of Montessori versus traditional education.

She also would like to replicate the study at other Montessori and traditional schools using a prospective design, and to examine whether
specific Montessori practices are linked to specific outcomes.

Pupils who learn at their own pace in Montessori schools may have an advantage over those in traditional classrooms

By Alexandra Frean

CHILDREN who attend Montessori schools, at which tests are banned and pupils of different ages are taught together and allowed to learn at
their own pace, develop better social and academic skills than those at conventional schools, according to research.

By the age of 5, children at Montessori schools are better at basic word recognition and mathematics, and are more likely to play
co-operatively with other children. By the age of 12, they are more creative and better able to resolve social problems, a US study
suggests.

The findings, published in the journal Science, are likely to fuel the debate over the use of tests and the highly structured
learning system in British primary schools, which is dominated by a compulsory literacy hour and daily maths lessons. They also raise
fundamental questions about the purpose of education.

Angeline Lillard, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, and lead author of the study, said: "A Montessori education
sets children up better for adult life and gives them a better quality of life for the moment too, because they don't have the anxieties
associated with testing."

"Academically, they end up in the same place or better as non-Montessori children, but they are much better at getting on in a
community."

In Britain, Montessori education has tended to be restricted to the children of ambitious parents who can afford fees of up to £2,000 a
term, but the Montessori movement is now beginning to influence teaching methods in the state sector.

Personalised learning plans that are being introduced in state schools have been part of the Montessori approach for 100 years - and last
year the first state-funded Montessori primary school was opened.

Professor Lillard's study was based on 112 children from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fifty-nine attended a Montessori school, while a
control group of fifty-three children attended conventional schools in the same area.

Parents of the children in both groups had entered their children into a local-authority lottery system to allocate school places. Because
all the parents had wanted their children to go to the Montessori school, the researchers worked on the basis that both groups contained
similar children and that their parents had similar aspirations for them. Socioeconomic backgrounds in both groups were also matched.

The children took cognitive and academic tests and were given challenges designed to test their social skills.

Among the five-year-olds, Montessori students not only performed significantly better in maths and English, but were also better able to
see the world through others' eyes and performed better on "executive function", which is the ability to adapt to changing and
complex problems.

Asked how they would deal with another child who was playing on a swing and not allowing others to use it, 43 per cent of Montessori
five-year-olds said that they would try to persuade the child that what it was doing was unfair to the others. Only 18 per cent of the
control group said the same.

The children at conventional schools were far more likely to be involved in rough play, such as "wrestling without smiling", the
study said.

By the age of 12, the difference in academic scores between the two groups was less pronounced. But when they were asked to complete an
essay that began with the phrase, ". . . had the best/worst day at school", the Montessori children wrote more creative stories
with more complex sentence structures.

They were also better at suggesting positive solutions to problems, such as what to do if another child pushed in front of them in a
queue. The Montessori children were more likely to stand their ground and point out that they had been there first, whereas the other
children in the study were more likely to walk away.

Professor Lillard, who originally trained as a Montessori teacher, said that the findings could be explained by the Montessori children's
superior understanding of social interaction. "In traditional schools we do things the opposite of the way children develop. They are
told to learn alone and to be quiet.

In Montessori schools the children can socialize as much as they want, and there is a lot more social interaction. The environment is not
competitive, as there are no grades and testing," she said.

Linda Madden, principal of the Rainbow Montessori School in North London, said that the Montessori method focused on laying down the
proper foundations for learning at every stage before children moved on to the next step.

"We do not teach children to count in an abstract way before they understand dimension and quantity.

With writing, we don't teach letters until they have the pincer muscles to hold a pencil properly.

We are very thorough - every step is based on the step before," she said.

Montessori education celebrates it's 100th anniversary this year. It was in 1907 that Italian physician Maria Montessori started
a school for poor children in Rome. A century later, Montessori educators say this method of teaching is thriving in Minnesota.

St. Paul, Minn. - The Montessori philosophy puts the child at the center of learning, not the teacher.

Montessori schools encourage children to be independent, and to do things for themselves.

Maria Montessori opened her first "Children's House" 100 years ago for the children of poor working
parents in a Rome slum. She found that the children blossomed when surrounded by artwork, plants and light.

"There's three principles of these environments. Beauty, order and simplicity," said Molly
O'Shaughnessy, who directs the Montessori Training Center in St. Paul.

At the training center, teachers learn the Montessori method in a practice classroom for three to six-year-olds.

This classroom looks very different from a typical preschool. Tiny mops and brooms hang neatly from hooks on one wall.
There's a small ironing board and miniature iron in another corner. And in the middle of the room, wooden shelves are filled with
child-sized glass cups and pitchers.

O'Shaughnessy said Montessori begins with children learning to do domestic activities like sweeping, cleaning and
preparing food.

"And you notice that we use glass, and it's beautiful, and it's color-coded. That's to help the child
first carry things carefully, because they know they can break," O'Shaughnessy said.

Montessori educators say as children dust and wash, they develop motor skills, and learn that they're capable of
doing things at home and at school.

The method can seem strange to parents who weren't educated in Montessori schools. Paulette Zoe is principal of Lake
Country School, a private Montessori school in Minneapolis with students from preschool through junior high.

Zoe said one parent wondered why her son was doing housework.

"She was worried for the first six weeks that her child was being prepared for some kind of a career in the food
service industry, because all he talked about was pickles for six weeks!" said Zoe. "And parents have said, you know,
we're paying tuition for carrot-peeling?"

Zoe said food preparation provides sensory stimulation for children.

As children get older, they learn language and math through Montessori materials, such as sandpaper letters that
children can trace and glass beads that help children visualize numbers.

In a classroom at Lake Country School, children ages six through nine are writing thank-you notes after a trip to the
land school.

Lake Country has a 160-acre farm in Wisconsin, where children can garden and care for animals.

Montessori schools group children of different ages together, so that younger children learn from older children.

The school day is much more unstructured than traditional classrooms, and students are encouraged to follow their
individual interests.

Upstairs at the school, sixth graders are reading stories they've written to the fourth and fifth graders in their
class.

"I feel a tug. No, not now! I beg. Please just let me get some sleep," reads Danielle Green. "But
whatever supernatural power is controlling me doesn't listen, and I'm whisked off to another place, another time."

In Danielle's adventurous story, she is first a T-Rex, then a soldier in World War II, then the first governor of
Minnesota.

Green and her classmates wrote themselves into history in stories that were supposed to explain their "cosmic
task" - their purpose in life.

Green said her task is to be a journalist, while another student wants to give health care to people who don't have
health insurance.

Montessori educators say students from Montessori schools often go into professions that help other people, and
they're good at collaborating with others.

Molly O'Shaughnessy of the Montessori Training Center said the Montessori method is very different from traditional teaching, but she
says it works.

"What we want to do is to show, to demonstrate, that Montessori works for all children. Because you will often
hear, well, it works for children who come from wealthy backgrounds. Yes, it does," O'Shaughnessy said. "But it also works
for children who come from very disadvantaged backgrounds."

Researcher Angeline Lillard found that Montessori students in Milwaukee outperformed their counterparts in traditional
schools. Lillard, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, compared inner-city children who attended Montessori schools to
children in other schools.

"The five-year-olds did better on the Woodcock-Johnson tests that were about early school skills - reading and
math," said Lillard. "The 12-year-olds were equivalent on those.

The 12-year-olds did better on narrative essays and creativity of essays. They also did better on social skills and
community orientation tests."

Lillard said she was skeptical when she first began her research, because few people in academic circles were talking
about Montessori education.

But she said she discovered that Maria Montessori was ahead of her time in figuring out that children learn best when
they choose what they're studying, and when they work in peer groups.

Montessori education has now spread to more than 130 countries.

In Minnesota, it's mainly taught in private schools, although a handful of public schools have Montessori
classrooms. The Montessori Training Center plans to open a model school on the east side of St. Paul next year, which will include a museum
and research center on the 100-year-old method.

A study of Milwaukee schoolchildren published today in the journal Science underscores what proponents of Montessori education have
believed for decades: that Montessori students might be better prepared academically and socially than students in traditional
classrooms.

Among the findings: 5-year-old Montessori students had better reading, math and social skills than 5-year-old non-Montessori children, and
12-year-old Montessori students wrote essays that were more creative and sophisticated than those by 12-year-old non-Montessori students. The
study tested two groups of Milwaukee Public Schools students: those who by luck of a lottery got into Craig Montessori on the city's
northwest side, and those who didn't.

It reaffirms the benefits of a system started by Maria Montessori 100 years ago, local administrators said, while also boosting the
reputation of a city that has increasingly made public school Montessori options available to a poor, urban population.

"I think (the article) gives good ammunition to dispel some stereotypes of Montessori - that children just have free choice all the
time and nobody gets any grades," said Craig Principal Phillip Dosmann, who made the study possible by keeping track of all the parents
whose children had "lost" the lottery to enroll at Craig last year.

Dosmann and the principals of Montessori programs at Fernwood, MacDowell and Maryland Avenue said more parents are "getting it"
- enrollment increases every year, waiting lists for K-3 and K-4 exist at every school, and a new Montessori International Baccalaureate High
School at the Marshall campus allows students to continue their Montessori education after eighth grade.

MPS Superintendent William Andrekopolous said parents have driven the expansion - 2,200 children are now enrolled in the district's
seven Montessori schools.

Finding qualified teachers is the schools' biggest challenge, but explaining the complexities of a Montessori education to parents and
the public has been an issue for decades.

The author of the Science study, Angeline Lillard, gave this description: "Montessori education is characterized by multi-age
classrooms, a special set of educational materials, student-chosen work in long time blocks, collaboration, the absence of grades and tests,
and individual and small group instruction in both academic and social skills."

Wander into a lower elementary classroom at Craig, for instance, and you'll see 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in the same room. Plants are
all over the place. It usually smells faintly of whatever animal is housed in the room.

Kids play individually or in small groups at different "areas" - the math area; the "practical life" area, where
students might clean dishes; or the language area, where they can play with letter blocks. Meanwhile, a teacher and an assistant move through
the room, helping each student individually.

There are no classroom bathroom breaks; if a child has to go, he or she takes a hall pass and completes the business.

In one room, 4-year-old Autumn Taper took her turn at the snack area, eating two spears of the broccoli she brought for the class. Without
adult direction, she cleaned up her plate and looked at her classmates milling around.

How did she know what to do next if nobody told her?

"I just know," she said with a shrug.

A system that fosters that kind of independence, and "redirects" students if they try to butt in on someone else's activity,
are part of what Lillard believed boosted the moral reasoning scores of the Montessori students in her study.

"We gave them a social problem-solving test by asking them what they would do if another student wouldn't get off the swing at
recess," she said. "Children usually say, 'Can I have it?' but Montessori students were more likely to say, 'It's
not fair, you need to share.' "

Lillard reported that the Montessori 5-year-olds also scored higher than traditional school students on an "executive
function" test in which they were instructed to stack cards: first by shape, then by color, then by a tricky combination of the two
rules.

As the grades progress at Craig, the "responsible freedom" classroom environment gives way to more textbook integration and some
lectures. Those classrooms look like any other in a traditional setting.

The differences also melted away somewhat in the older students' academic tests, where reading and math skills were similar for both
groups, Lillard said. On the essay portion, all the students scored similarly on spelling, punctuation and grammar.

"But the Montessori children had more sophisticated sentence structures, and they had more interesting twists to their
storylines," Lillard said.

She added that the older kids' study could ease fears parents often have that their students won't thrive in the Montessori
system, which de-emphasizes rigid grades and tests, compared with traditional schools.

"They've gotten to the same stage without all that," Lillard said. "And their social skills are more
developed."

Those social skills might be why some freshmen at the new Montessori high school, about 40 of whom have previous Montessori experience,
are eager to talk about how their education has differed from their peers'.

"In science, I'll pick from a widespread list of topics and work in a group, and by the end I'll have to write a 50-page
report," said Matthew Klumb-Rouse. "It's way more hands-on here."

The system isn't flawless. Because the high school has some students not as familiar with the Montessori method, tasks such as
building a timeline the "Montessori way" have to be explained in large groups, which Doniqua Smith said can get boring when
you've already learned that years ago.

More education about Montessori, and encouraging parents of 2-year-olds to enroll their children at K-3, are key to a strong preschool
through high school Montessori program in MPS, said Tim Duak, the principal at MacDowell.

As for Lillard, a teacher at the University of Virginia, she hopes to get another grant so she can reassess the MPS students as they
progress in their Montessori and non-Montessori educations.

MONTESSORI STUDENTS STILL GO THEIR OWN WAY - 100 years old, nontraditional system has 8 schools in area

By Kristen Walsh

The Patriot Ledger

In Montessori classrooms, learning happens a little differently. Students work on subjects of their choice with many materials that have
been around for decades - 10 decades to be exact.

This year is the 100th anniversary of Montessori education, and many schools on the South Shore are celebrating the beginning of the
educational philosophy created by Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educator.

Montessori believed that children can teach themselves most concepts better than a teacher can.

"Children have an intrinsic desire to work when they're not striving to achieve a grade, but knowledge,'' said Mardie
Hinkley, a teacher and parent at the Montessori School of Quincy.

That desire is promoted through a nontraditional style of teaching. Students are encouraged to use all five senses to discover new things.
A school's curriculum does not generally include testing or traditional grades.

Foreign culture, the environment, and the idea of becoming a good citizen of the world are all emphasized through creative lesson plans and
curriculums.

Arts play a large role in Montessori education.

Bay Farm Academy in Duxbury will put on 32 plays this year.

This past year, students at the Inly Montessori Community School in Scituate participated in a program called "All Roads Lead to
Rome,'' which allowed them to express themselves artistically in whichever way they chose.

"The whole approach is freedom with structure, and with freedom comes responsibility,'' said Liz Knox, a parent and director of
communications at the Inly School.

"It's teaching kids to make smart and responsible decisions within their work instead of you telling them what to
do.''

Kevin Clark took over as head of school at Bay Farm Academy in June. His two young children will enter the school in the fall.

Clark said he enjoys the reaction parents have when they see for the first time how a classroom works.

"They wish they were educated that way,'' he said. "They take a leap of faith into the program for their
children.''

A 2006 study by a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia showed that, academically, Montessori students end up in the same
place or farther along than non-Montessori children, and that they function better in a community atmosphere.

"Maria Montessori was a brilliant observer of children,'' said Angeline Lillard, author of the study, which was published in the
journal Science. "She noticed what they did, what they reacted to, and made sweeping changes based on small events in the
classroom.''

There are about 4,000 Montessori schools in the United States and about 7,000 worldwide. The South Shore has eight, in Duxbury, Hingham,
Quincy, Plymouth and Scituate.

All implement the Montessori philosophy in different ways and to varying degrees. Most begin enrolling students as young as 1 year old and
continue through the sixth or eighth grade.

"There seems to be a misconception that it's elitist or exclusionary,'' said Hinkley, the teacher at the Montessori School
of Quincy. "It's fallen into our society as a private alternative, but it's spreading in some areas to public education as
well.''

Sandy Kozlowsky, the director of admissions and a former teacher at Bay Farm, says her 7-year-old daughter is in the perfect educational
environment.

"Not only is my child receiving a strong education but she is receiving exceptional character development,'' she said.

Kozlowsky said independence is one of the main benefits of a Montessori education.

"They (students) are free to make choices, but we're here to prepare them,'' she said. "They have a sense of calm,
and they are purposeful. The kids here are happy.''

Method's history

Maria Montessori is first female MD in Italy

Students work in mixed-age classrooms

Students are motivated to teach themselves

Classroom materials allow students to use all their senses in exploring a topic

MY EDITOR'S NOTE: This Article below is the Article that states the fees for these schools in the USA. They can make you do a double
take at first, I know. We need more charter programs in the public schools.

The kids who scampered about construction zones in the San Lorenzo slums of Rome gave the work crews fits.

Then the builders heard some woman doctor was recruiting students for a new school.

They begged her to enroll the troublemakers in the Casa dei Bambini.

Maria Montessori agreed. Her Children's House offered a few dozen young students freedom.

They could sort blocks, measure with beads, play with wooden letters, or explore another project of their choice. They
roamed through classrooms rather than building sites.

The results of this experiment launched in January 1907 captivated the education world, inspiring a movement over the next
century that has helped define child-centered education.

More than 5,000 Montessori schools are spread across the United States, at least 8,000 worldwide. Dozens have sprung
up in the Washington region.

The American Montessori Society, based in New York, reported 7 percent membership growth in just the past year, and many of the
schools are getting ready to celebrate the centennial of the Montessori beachhead.

Once considered a maverick experiment that appealed only to middle-class white families in the States, Montessori schools have
become popular with some black professionals and are getting results in low-income public schools with the kind of children on
which Montessori first tested her ideas.

The stubborn Italian physician and her contemporary, U.S. philosopher and psychologist John Dewey -- who believed that learning
should be active -- are considered perhaps the most influential progressive thinkers in the modern history of education.

But Montessori has had the more tangible impact, with versions of her child-centered practices passed from preschool teacher
to preschool teacher, some not even aware of the origins of what they are doing.

Nowadays, her advocacy of unstructured class time seems antithetical to today's structured classrooms, with their emphasis
on standardized testing and meeting the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

"One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child," Montessori said.

She also declared: "The greatest sign of success for a teacher . . . is to be able to say: 'The children are now
working as if I did not exist.' "

The Montessori approach, often found in private preschools and primary grade schools that serve predominantly white, affluent
students, is having long-term success in several local public schools that attract low-income students.

Prince George's County has two public Montessori schools for students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, the Robert
Goddard school in Seabrook and the John Hanson school in Oxon Hill.

Arlington County, one of the first places in the country to establish tax-supported Montessori schools, has 17 preschool
Montessori classes in 10 elementary schools and a program at the Drew Model School that goes through fifth grade.

There are 250 to 300 public Montessori schools nationwide.

American Montessori Society President Michael J. Dorer, an education professor at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul,
Minn., said creating more public schools would be the best way to break out of the upper-income niche that in some ways still
limits the Montessori movement's growth.

Dorer said his college and several others train Montessori teachers, but there are not enough instructors with credentials to
meet demand from the expanding number of Montessori schools.

Some schools with the Montessori name don't have many, or any, Montessori-trained teachers. "Anyone can open a school
and call it a Montessori school. There is no trademark on the name," Dorer said. "It's a real problem."

Maria Montessori, who lived from 1870 to 1952, was a pioneering doctor in Italy. She gained international notice when the
severely learning-disabled students she worked with passed educational tests designed for non-disabled children.

In her 2005 book "Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius," University of Virginia psychologist Angeline Stoll
Lillard described how Montessori viewed the learning-disabled.

Such children were often locked up in bare rooms, Lillard wrote, their food thrown at them. Montessori saw "their
grasping at crumbs of food on the floor as starvation, not for food, but for stimulation," she wrote.

Montessori developed a system of learning for all students, disabled and otherwise, in large open classrooms with low shelves,
with tables of different sizes that fit one to four children and with chairs sized for children of different ages.

Montessori classes often group children in three levels: ages 3 to 6, 6 to 9, and 9 to 12. The older students help the
younger.

Various materials, mostly made of wood, are set out in a typical classroom. Children choose what they want to do.

A child may decide to focus on learning to tie his shoes rather than recognize letters -- while his mother grits her
teeth.

But eventually, according to the Montessori way, he will get around to the materials that help teach reading and math because
all the activities are meant to be inviting. Children move around rather than sit still and watch the teacher.

And it is appealing to some African American professionals. The private Henson Valley Montessori School in Temple Hills has
grown 50 percent over the past decade and plans to move to larger quarters in Upper Marlboro in the fall.

On a recent day at Henson Valley, children were putting together map puzzles, blowing seeds in the air to demonstrate plant
dispersion and planning the construction of a space station.

"They are learning how to learn," said Stephanie Carr, a federal government manager who has three children at the
school.

Despite the free-form nature of lessons, "they get very good test scores," Carr said. "My children are testing
above grade level."

Pamela Hayes, an accountant in Fort Washington, has three children at the school. "There was a feeling that we were part
of a family," she said.

The school serves 260 students from preschool through eighth grade; tuition is $9,190 through sixth grade and $12,160 for
seventh and eighth.

Classrooms in the one-story building are arranged like a series of living rooms connected by short halls. Hayes's
9-year-old daughter worked outside with other children on a model of an international space station built with plastic pipe
joints and soda bottles.

Valaida L. Wise, head of the Henson Valley school, graduated from what is now the Nora School. The small, private secondary
school in Silver Spring shares some of the Montessori emphasis on putting students rather than teachers in charge of
learning.

The key to the method, she said, "is the individualized attention that we give to each child. We look for the
children's brilliance. Each child's brilliance is different."

Experts say some research shows that children of middle-class, college-educated parents generally do well no matter what
elementary schools they attend. For many of these children, the Montessori method works, even if their parents prefer a more
rigorous teaching style in high school to get kids ready for the SAT and Advanced Placement classes.

The psychologist Lillard was at first skeptical of Montessori's ideas when she started her research 20 years ago. But she
found that a strong body of evidence in developmental psychology supports Montessori's major conclusions -- among them, that
there is a close relationship between movement and cognition, that the best learning is active, and that order is beneficial for
children.

Montessori's only major idea unsupported by evidence was her view that pretend play was a waste of time, Lillard wrote.

Above all, Montessori was practical. She looked for what worked rather than what fit a theory. "If schooling were
evidence-based," Lillard wrote, "I think all schools would look a lot more like Montessori schools."

Traditional American schooling is in constant crisis because it is based on two poor models for
children's learning: the school as a factory and the child as a blank slate. School reforms repeatedly fail by not penetrating these
models.

One hundred years ago, Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy, devised a very different method of educating
children, based on her observations of how they naturally learn.

Does Montessori education provide a viable alternative to traditional schooling? Do Dr. Montessori's
theories and practices stand up to the scrutiny of modern-day developmental psychology? Can developmental psychology tell us anything
about how and why Montessori methods work?

In Montessori, Angeline Lillard shows that science has finally caught up with Maria
Montessori: Current scientific research provides astounding support for her major insights. Lillard presents the research
concerning eight insights that are foundational to Montessori education and describes how each of these insights is applied in the
Montessori classroom.

In reading this book, parents and teachers alike will develop a clear understanding of what happens in a Montessori classroom and, more
important, why it happens, and why it works.

Montessori however, does much more than explain the scientific basis for Montessori's system: amid the clamor for
evidence-based education, this book presents the studies that show how children learn best, makes clear why many
traditional practices come up short, and describes an ingenious alternative that works.

Everyone interested in education, at all levels and in all forms, will take from this book a wealth of insights on how to improve
teaching effectiveness. Montessori is indispensable reading for anyone interested in what psychologists know about human
learning and development.

"This is a great book. It is beautifully written, and expertly uses the
psychological research literature to evaluate Montessori theory and practice. What an original and important
contribution."

- Carol Dweck
Professor of Psychology, Stanford University

"Inspired educational thinkers such as Dewey or Vygotsky only sketched out ways that we might teach young children. Over
more than 50 years, Maria Montessori successfully created a radically new teaching system - a system that endures and inspires
to this day. Angeline Lillard shows how many of Montessori's practices anticipated some of the latest and best findings in
developmental psychology while still others call out for future empirical analysis. Lillard's comprehensive and fascinating
assessment gives Montessori the place that she deserves in contemporary debate about how we should best teach
children."

"Lillard has masterfully explored the basic tenets of Montessori education and how they are validated with today's
scientific findings. The result is a long-awaited and important contribution that contrasts with traditional education and
offers evidence in support of a method that works. A stunning achievement!"

"This is a really excellent book. The author is unusually well qualified to write it. Angeline Lillard is an
internationally renowned researcher in the area of cognitive-developmental psychology, who also has extensive experience and
deep knowledge regarding Montessori. The book is not only authoritative and scholarly, it is also very well organized and very
clearly written, easily communicable to anyone with an interest in the area. I enjoyed reading it."

- John Flavell
Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor, Emeritus
School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University

"If you want to understand Montessori education in light of current developmental research, you should seize upon this
authoritative, interesting book. I highly recommend it for parents, educators, students of education--anyone, in fact, who
would like a close-up look at the real needs of the developing child."

Twenty years ago, I was a Montessori skeptic. I had taken a Montessori teacher training course and was frustrated at not being able
to discriminate scientifically supported ideas from mere opinion.

I had met Montessori teachers who sometimes came across as more devoted to upholding their heroine than to learning about children.
And I was convinced that while Montessori surely had it's strengths, traditional and other forms of education surely had theirs
too, and the best educational system would combine the strengths of each system.

When I embarked on graduate study in developmental psychology, I occasionally came across a study that happened to reiterate a major
principle of Montessori, and I had seen enough of such studies by the time I had children to want them to be in a strong Montessori
school if I could find one.

( Not all Montessori schools would qualify, for reason that will become clear in this book. )

Having my children in a Montessori school led me to study Montessori practices more deeply, and I saw more convergences with research
over time.

The education director at my children's school, Trisha Thompson Willingham, asked me to write a column about these convergences
for the school newsletter, and from that column this book was launched.

The delegates at Oxford University Press asked that I write a balanced assessment of Montessori, pointing out where the evidence is
not supportive as well as where it is.

I have done my best to do this, but there is a real problem.

Their assumption, like my original one, was that Montessori must have aspects that are supported by research, and aspects that are not.

Yet her major ideas - that there is a close relationship between movement and cognition, that the best learning is active, that order
is beneficial for children, and so on - are supported by a strong body of evidence in developmental psychology.

Some of her main developmental ideas that did not take hold until later and are rarely attributed to her are now mainstream, such as
that children go through sensitive periods in development, and that language is ( in a sense ) innate.

None of the Montessori ideas that I would consider central have been "disproven."

Others are not researched. The most major idea that is not supported by the evidence is her negative view of pretend play, which I
discuss at the end of chapter 5.

Like Piaget and others of her time, Dr. Montessori saw adaption to reality as the goal of development, and pretending as a frivolous
expression of immature minds that were not adapting to reality.

But there is another important point here: Dr. Montessori took her cue from children, observing them in her classrooms. She
observed that when the children were offered toys alongside Montessori work, they chose the work and ignored the toys.

They did not appear to be interested in pretending in the classroom. The reasons pretend play helps cognitive development may well be
satisfied in other ways in Montessori classrooms.

For example, in play and in Montessori, children get to choose what to do, when, and with whom.

It is this practical approach that explains why Dr. Montessori is less "debunkable" today than Piaget. Like Dr.
Montessori, Jean Piaget made many brilliant observations of children, based on their interactions with stimuli he developed.

Piaget's aim through these observations was to explain the ontogenesis of intelligence, but for him theory came early, leaving him
vulnerable to making observations that fit his theory.

Dr. Montessori's aim was instead practical: she sought to develop a system of education that worked with children, rather than
against them.

Dr. Montessori was not particularly interested in theory, she was a physician, concerned with treatments to aid health and well-being.
Surely her personal views did sometimes get in the way of objective observation, but her major ideas about treatments that bring
about more optimal learning and development, based on her empirical observations, are laregly upheld by research today.

If schooling were evidence - based, I think all schools would look a lot more like Montessori schools. Yet Montessori schooling
can often feel uncomfortable to parents, and even to the teachers who employ the methods, because it is different from what we had as
children.

For psychology researchers, attitudes toward Montessori are mixed: some know enough to appreciate it, others misunderstand a small
aspect and dismiss the entire approach. Very few know more than a smidgen about it.

In this book I try to make Montessori accessible to researchers, and I try to make psychology research accessible to parents and
teachers. I hope the book will help readers better understand how people learn generally, as well as what happens in a
Montessori classroom and why.

I try to also point out Montessori ideas and issues that are unresolved in modern science and in need of more study. Empirical
study should always be the deciding factor for how to best educate children, as it was for Dr. Montessori. Dr. Montessori
described herself as an empiricist, but her methods, acceptable during her time, are no longer the standard.

I write about Montessori education because that is the alternative system that I know. Others who know Steiner ( Waldorf ),
Reggio Emilio, and other alternative systems of schooling will surely see points of similiarity to and differences from Montessori
education.

Those with knowledge of other systems can evaluate how they fare in relation to research on human learning and development.

"............................................................."

It is difficult to write about a system that is named after a person. To differentiate the two, the person is always referred to
as Dr. Montessori in this text, and the system simply as Montessori. Sometimes this leads to awkward contrasts, ( Dr.
Montessori versus Piaget ), but it clarifies references to the person versus the system.

I repeatedly refer to certain Montessori materials and lessons in this book, but these are only a tiny representative fraction of
the entire set.

For convenience, I use the word "method" on occasion to refer to Montessori. Some will object, on the grounds
that Montessori is much more than a method: it is grounded in a philosophy for life.

Also, for convenience of expression, I sometimes use the word "curriculum" to refer to the entire set of Montessori
lessons, although it is not technically like a traditional school curriculum.

The basis of the reform of education and society, which is a necessity of our times, must be built upon... scientific study. -
Maria Montessori

Two fundamental cornerstones of American schooling today were placed at the turn of the 20th century: the school
as a factory and the child as a blank slate.

Students of child development know that these ideas are obsolete, but they continue to have a profound impact on
how schooling is done.

The persistence of these outmoded ideas explains why so few children really flourish in school, and why so many
strongly prefer snow days to school days.

Yet for most of us, envisioning how to eliminate two such entrenched ideas is difficult.

Early in the 20th century, Dr. Maria Montessori did envision a radically different approach to education, an
approach grounded in close and insightful observations of children rather than in adult convenience and misconception.

Modern research in psychology suggests the Montessori system is much more suited to how children learn and develop
than the traditional system is.

In the chapters to come, I describe eight of Dr. Montessori's basic insights, recent psychological research
concerning those insights, their incorporation into Montessori classrooms, and why they are often incompatible with traditional
schooling.

In this chapter I discuss the need for reform, and I trace the roots of the two misguided ideas that form the
basis of typical American schooling. I close this chapter with an introductory view of Montessori education.

This is a really great book for anyone interested in education, not limited just to Montessori. The book
explains clearly several aspects of Montessori education and describes the research that supports or does not support the
Montessori method. I didn't know much about Montessori before reading this book, so I found it very enlightening to begin to
understand this complete system for education.

FIVE STARS Well-researched, easy to read, January 13, 2008

(Ohio)

I would highly recommend this book. Although a text book type publication, it is extremely interesting, easy to
read. Very well researched and packed with insight and explanation on the Montessori method. I have read several other books on
Montessori and this is one of the best. Read it in conjunction with Maria Montessori's own book "The Secret of
Childhood."

FOUR STARS Recommended to me by a Montessori teacher

November 29, 2007

I was familiar with the basics of Montessori education before I read "Montessori: The Science Behind the
Genius". I have been drawn to it ever since I first heard about it because it feels more natural and right than traditional
public school. I read this book in an effort to understand the system better and to be able to defend my choice to well-meaning but
critical friends and family. I was not disappointed.

Lillard first compares traditional education with the Montessori system, pointing out how each came to be and how they have evolved
over time. She then looks at what she considers to be the eight principles of Montessori education. Each is explained in depth,
compared in depth with traditional education, and then research is provided in support of each principle. In her research, Lillard
discovered that none of Montessori's central points have been disproven, many have been proven, and several are in need of
further research.

Pros: This book cites many, many scientific studies. It is well-written and easy to understand. There are many
examples (and pictures) of specific materials used in Montessori education. It provides a solid explanation of many of the
important principles of Montessori education.

Cons: The book is a little wordy and uses too many previews, summaries, and reviews for my taste. The last
chapter contains a section called "Frequently Asked Questions and Concerns about Montessori" that I wish was longer and
more in depth.

What I would really like to find is a debate between pro- and anti- Montessori educators. While I really enjoyed
this book and learned a lot from it, I came away thinking that Lillard's assessment was too good to be true. If Montessori
education is really as wonderful as she (and I) think it is, why is it not more popular?

MY EDITOR'S NOTE: As to why this system is not more popular, I guess I might just say that "bad
habits are hard to break" sometimes. Too many people get too docile about demanding changes, and so the status quo
continues on for too long. I don't really feel like this sad phenomenon of bad habits is necessarily exclusive only to just
education reform, but to many areas of life as well.

FIVE STARS Supreme Learning June 27, 2007

(Chapel Hill, NC USA)

As a former Montessori student, I've been amazed at how other children develop learning methods in classroom
experiences across the U.S.

With our educational system in flux, how about looking to Maria Montessori and her teaching philosophies that
she developed a century ago.

I may hold a biased view for Montessori learning. However, Montessori believed that the 'factory method' of schooling was
outdated. Believing that children have blank slates for learning, she created learning techniques and environments that develop
concentration, independent thought, motivation, curiosity, and self-discipline for life's choices. After reading this book,
I'm in full agreement with her teaching methods.

Lilliard explains the history and theories behind Montessori education in-depth and with strength. She
explains the importance of our relationships and environments within the classroom and our homes, and she explores the knee-jerk
arguments against Montessori education.

If you're working with or raising children, you'll be way ahead of the game with this thorough and
insightful book.

I wanted to explore the foundations of how I learn in life, and Lillard answers my questions. I'm not only
more knowledgable about how I learn, but also I'm more aware how intelligence is developed and the possibilites of how our
youth can learn in today's world.

Add to your building blocks of knowledge, and explore Montessori methods...This is a supreme read.

FIVE STARS Great Montessori Resource

This is a great book to peruse if you have an interest in furthering Montessori's educational philosophy at
home, in traditional, or alternative schools.

FIVE STARS Montessori was a genius, and here is the proof!

January 9, 2007

(Santa Barbara, CA)

Montessori school? Nearly 40 years ago my wife began working in a Montessori school as a classroom assistant.
I was busy in Hollywood working as an assistant editor for Roger Corman.

Montessori school? It wasn't long before my wife had me sitting in her classroom 'observing' the
children. Montessori school? How does one make a career change so quickly? Maybe it's when your wife says, "I'm going
to Italy to get my Montessori teacher training!"

We both graduated from the International Center for Montessori Studies in Bergamo, Italy in 1972, and we've
both been teaching in Montessori schools ever since.

Witnessing and working with the impact of Montessori's genius for more than 35 years has provided our own
hands-on validation of what Montessori's approach can provide learners of all ages.

Lillard's book provides the documented empirical evidence of Montessori's value that up until now has
been missing. We Montessori teachers know the value of a genuine Montessori experience, now there's evidence, too.

Although this book's audience might be the academic world, parents too can gather plenty of reasons as to
why their children should be enrolled in an authentic Montessori program.

FIVE STARS Highly informative April 27, 2006

I first heard of this book from a friends mother who is a Montessori teacher.

I attended a lecture by Dr. Lillard about this book. It was interesting to see how there is a way to really
teach children, after hearing about how much public schools are failing our children.

After the lecture I went home and purchased the book. I can't say enough about it. Its incredibly
interesting and I think that everyone, not just parents, should read it.

It is amazing what children can accomplish when given the tools and opportunity that Montessori provides.

Five Stars Excellent February 25, 2006

(Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)

If you are interested in understanding the scientific basis for the success of the Montessori approach, this is
the book to read.

Because there have been few studies that have compared traditional and Montessori outcomes head-to-head, Lillard
does the next best thing: synthesize decades of pyschological and sociological research that validates Montessori theory and
practice.

She clearly demonstrates that the teaching method Maria Montessori established through empirical observation and
trial and error in her own classrooms has been well-confirmed in its efficaciousness by subsequent studies in human cognitive
development.

This is a superbly written book, and Lillard is very good at presenting often highly intricate research in an
accessible manner.

Although she is obviously a supporter (and product) of Montessori education, she does not wear her bias on her
sleeve. She does not leave out research that either does not support or cannot yet be shown to support the Montessori method.

If you already send your child to a Montessori school, you will find your good decision supported by her
research; if you are thinking about Montessori, you will be convinced after reading this book that your choice is easy.

FIVE STARS A wonderful resource

This is a very well written book, with a wealth of information culled from studies on children's development
and the optimal conditions for growth and learning. The prose is clear and easy to digest. I recommend Lillard's book for
anyone - parents, teachers, and policy makers - interested in children regardless of interest in Montessori.

Very informative, a must for all parents interested in Montessori education

August 8, 2005

(Farmington, CT)

I purchased this book in anticipation of attending a lecture by the author next month. I am really looking
forward to hearing her speak as this book has really broadened my understanding of Montessori.

I came to Montessori two years ago when my daughter started at the primary level and even though I had a chance to observe at
school, some of the method wasn't totally clear to me.

After reading this book, Montessori's method makes so much sense I am amazed more schools haven't
entirely adopted her ideas.

The book goes into great detail about scientific studies already performed and studies that might be of benefit
to further understanding Montessori. The nice part about the author's approach is that though it is scientific in nature, it is
written enough in layman's terms, making it an enjoyable read.

FIVE STARS

An important book about Montessori education

I believe your book is an indispensable resource for Montessori teachers and for any non-Montessori teachers
and/or administrators who want to know how and why Montessori works so well with children.

For Montessori teachers, it provides the validation of principles that are sometimes abandoned in Montessori
classrooms to appease parents, administrators, or the teacher's own insecurities.

For non-Montessori educators, it offers a rationale for what we do in terms that they can understand and a
wealth of non-Montessori research to back up our classroom practice.

Since Montessori is the fastest growing method of education today, young people going into the field of
education want to learn about Montessori in their university classes.

Until now there has never been a book well suited to this purpose; professors will relate to the perspective of
another professor, especially one who is knowledgeable in all kinds of education of children.

Students will come to understand more about how we educate children in traditional education, and why Montessori
is so sought after as an alternative, in both private and public school settings.

Angeline Lillard, the author of "Montessori, the Science behind the Genius" is a parent, and her book
is invaluable for anyone thinking of having children, or getting ready to send a child to preschool or school.

It will help parents differentiate between true Montessori schools and those that use the name
"Montessori" without knowing what they are doing, which is quite common since there is no copyright on use of the name.

I cannot speak highly enough of this book and I have been in the Montessori field in one way or another since
1968 when my first child entered her first Montessori class.

FIVE STARS Brilliant

April 1, 2005

(San Anselmo, CA)

As a psychologist and parent of two young children, Dr. Lillard's book helped me to understand more about
increasing my children's cognitive abilities, emotional intelligence, and independence.

The book is rich with current social and developmental research. It also provides a thoughtful overview of
leading perspectives on childrearing and education ranging from the works of Baumrind to Dewey.

At its heart, the book describes how a woman who was born in the 1800's changed the landscape of education
through a lifelong dedication to her observation and work with children. This is not only a book about Dr. Montessori and the
approach she created, but about the child's innate curiosity, concentration, and passion for learning.

Thank you, Dr. Lillard. This is a brillant piece of work.

FIVE STARS Absolutely Fascinating

March 7, 2005

You can read other Montessori books and be inspired, but if you read Lillard's Montessori: The Science
Behind the Genius, you will be persuaded by the sheer weight of the evidence in support of the eight foundational principles of
Montessori Education.

The Montessori community will love this book but I think that anyone who is interested in understanding what is
wrong with traditional education should read this book.

It is a scholarly work that any parent can understand. I absolutely loved the book and highly recommend it.

FIVE STARS A must read for parents and educators

March 7, 2005

(Williamsburg, VA USA)

Lillard's thorough and readable treatment of Montessori brings together 100 years of practical wisdom with
the most recent psychological research findings. It is not easy to find clear, accurate descriptions of Montessori teaching and
learning; and even harder to find accessible explanations for the complex theory that underlies Montessori practice.

This book does both. For those of us who have always wondered what was going on at the Montessori school in our
neighborhood, Lillard's lucid prose provides a window into the classroom.

And for those parents as well as educators who wonder whether the method really "works," Lillard not
only explains how, but produces evidence for why.

In this lively and engaging DVD lecture based on her widely acclaimed book, Dr. Angeline Lillard presents Montessori's theoretical principles, the
science research that has followed them, and how they are implemented in a Montessori classroom.